Lester Abrams is the songwriter who teamed up with Michael McDonald to pen the Doobie Brothers hit "Minute by Minute." As a teenager and playing drums, Lester's first band was the El Dor...
Jamal Batiste grew up in a very musical family and when he saw his brother’s drum kit at 3 years old, he fell in love. Raised in New Orleans he was surrounded by what he calls the gumbo o...
Archie Bell, a native of Houston, Texas, grew up listening to his mother sing in the Baptist church. Out of her seven sons she singled out Archie and suggested that he should try to be a ...
Eric Burdon participated in the British Invasion of the 1960s as an original member of The Animals. It was an exciting time in music that brought popularity to rock bands from England to ...
Emilio Castillo plays second tenor sax, as well as providing background and lead vocals for the band he help establish in 1968 called Tower of Power! The year before Emilio formed a band ...
Willie Chambers and his brothers fell in love with gospel music while growing up singing in church. Even though they received some strong criticism, they expanded the places where church ...
Joe Chambers was inspired by his older brother George to play guitar and write songs. The brothers, Joe, George, Willie and Lester, formed The Chambers Brothers and began singing gospel m...
Dennis Chambers has always had music in his life and started playing professional gigs before he was ten years old! He joined the group Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 and is considered to ...
Mike Clark helped established the funk-based drumming sound that emerged out of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and 70s. In fact, his “The Funk Stops Here” was used fo...
Larry "Moogstar" Clemon gained his nickname playing synthesizers for several funk and R&B bands such as the Zapp Band and Cameo. While working with Roger Troutman with the Zapp Band,...
George Clinton is the funk mastermind behind some of the now landmark recordings of Parliament and Funkadelic beginning in the 1970s, including the largely successful hit “Flashlight.” Ge...
Karl Denson has played the saxophone alongside Lenny Kravitz, The Rolling Stones, Jack DeJohnette, Switchfoot, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (among others). He was the co-founder of the a...
Larry Dodson Sr. was asked to become the first singer in the Bar-Kays back in 1970. The band started out as an instrumental group in the 1960s and gained world-wide fame as Otis Redding ...
George Duke built his musical career on innovative styles and sounds. His reputation for creative and influential performances cross over jazz, pop and rock music and have since his early...
Larry Dunn played a key role in the success of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire! As the keyboardist for the group he added new sounds in the innovative era of electronic musica...
Nathan East began playing the bass following his introduction to soul music, which his uncle and father often played on the radio and from records. Over his storied career, Nathan has be...
James Gadson is among the most recorded drummers in history! His career began as a member of the Charles Wright band in the late 1960s and soon expanded to studio work. James can be hea...
Kenneth Gamble was singing and playing the guitar in a band he formed in Philly when he first met his future songwriting partner, Leon Huff. The two discovered they had the same goals of...
Joan Gand followed her drummer brother to a gig while still in high school. There, he introduced her to a guitarist from another school who eventually became her future husband, Gary Gan...
David Garibaldi is the innovative drummer for Tower of Power and a much respected clinician well known throughout the world. He joined the group in 1970 just as they signed Bill Graham o...
Larry Graham fondly recalls stepping out onto stage to perform at Woodstock! He remembers the sea of people and the energy in the air as he performed as a member of Sly & the Family ...
Stuart Gray landed his first job in Live Sound as a roadie when he was a teenager. He was living close to the Apollo Theater in New York and thanks to his Godfather, Benjamin Ashburn, was...
Michael Hampton is also known as Kidd Funkadelic thanks to his long association with the funk band Parliament-Funkadelic. He joined the band at the tender age of 17, having impressed the...
Leon Huff cut his teeth in the recording studios as a session player in the 1950s before meeting Kenneth Gamble. The two became one of the most prolific and successful songwriting and re...
Ernie Isley was born into a very musical family and grew up with his older brothers forming a group and singing gospel. When Ernie was 14 years old he played drums as a member of the fam...
Chris Jasper is the funk and soul keyboardist, singer and composer who played a key role in the Isley Brothers sound. He later helped form Isley-Jasper-Isley, which, like the Isley Broth...
Stephen “Doc” Kupka met Emilio Castillo in July, 1968, and discovered they both had a dream to form a rock and roll band with a strong horn element. By the end of the year the band began ...
Keith LeBlanc was one of the first drummers who used his funk music background to create beats that helped popularize hip-hop music. Keith was there in the beginning and while working for...
Ralph MacDonald grew up in Harlem, where he was exposed to many musical traditions. As a drummer, he focused on his African roots and as a songwriter he relied on his soulful understandin...
Steve Madaio played trumpet on most of Stevie Wonders recordings during the innovative and creative period between 1971 and 1976. Stevie was experimenting with electric keyboards and syn...
Bobby Martin was one of the architects who developed the Philly Sound that provided a unique twist of soul and funk records of the 1960s and 70s. As a producer he worked with many top art...
Gail Muldrow is a vocalist and guitarist who grew up completely surrounded by music. Living in the Oakland area, she would often take trips into San Francisco to experience the vibrant mu...
